Her Hero Academia
by Daichi Yamazaki
Summary: Several years after the original manga cast left U.A. and are all full-fledged heroes, a new batch of students roll into the most prestiged hero high school in the country, ready to one-up the pros and become the number one hero of all time! How will Akane Hananari and the new class 1-A face their troubles in the school?
1. Chapter 1 - Acceptance

**HER HERO ACADEMIA**

 **CHAPTER 1: Acceptance**

* * *

Humanity has seemed to forget what it was like to be quirkless. Quirkless people, or as they called themselves back in the day, "normal" people are nearly extinct now that fire breathers and telepaths roam the streets, living their quiet, tranquil everyday lives. Villains and chaos became commonplace, and our forefathers' fantasies became our reality. It was abrupt, sudden and above everything else, unexpected. Governments across the world found it difficult to combat the rising crime rates while thinking of the correct way to restore peace without marginalizing this newfound species of superhuman. There was only one way to do it.

 _Heroes._

* * *

 ** _April 2nd, 12:44pm_**

Akane's eyes opened slowly, drowsily. Only the barely noticeable weight of the sheet over her leg, she kicked off the day with a kick and stripped herself of the cover before sitting up, legs crossed as she rubbed her knuckles against her eyelids, massaging them awake. A yawn left her throat as she turned to her left, morphing it a groan as she stretched. Touch the sky, then your feet, repeat, repeat, and done.

Hearing some noise from her room, Aiko peered in through the door, noticing her daughter as she did her morning stretches. "Good morning, sweetheart."

Alerted by her voice, Akane briskly looked towards the door, but quickly let her guard down as she noticed who was there. "Morning, mom."

 **AKANE HANANARI**  
 **QUIRK:** **MIRROR** _ **  
**_ **Akane is able to absorb with her left palm, and reflect with her right palm, with the same kinetic energy. This only affects non-solids and small solids.**

 **AIKO HANANARI  
QUIRK: SPONGE  
Aiko can absorb small objects into her own body and convert them into energy.**

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I guess." she replied, still a bit groggy. "I might need to remove something though... spring's rolling around, after all."

Aiko chuckled. "I, for one, am surprised you still had your winter covers with the weather we've been having."

"Heh," Akane smiled, "I just didn't feel hot until now. What time is it?"

"You're just in time for lunch. I made your favorite."

"Chicken wings?"

There was a slight pause as Aiko smiled, a bit sheepish. "Second favorite."

Akane's laugh came out as little more than a snort. "Curry rice?"

"Curry rice."

"I'll be right there." Akane smiled as she stretched a bit more, while Aiko excused herself with a nod, and left to do her household chores.

"You better start getting up earlier if you want to survive your first week in school, dear." she heard her mother say as she distanced herself. Akane sighed in defeat, realizing that was the truth. Straightening her posture, she looked at the cork board on her wall, a few memoirs of her on display. In the mood to reminisce, she paced over to it.

A photograph of her and her mother at last year's Sports Festival hung in the top right corner, a signed cover of her favourite idol's first album pinned down right to its left. Her to-do list occupied the leftmost side of the board, and a few cut-outs of her favorite manga characters peppered the top and bottom. They all framed _it_ so perfectly. Proudly occupying the center position, there it was - her acceptance letter.

The acceptance letter that proves that she, Akane Hananari, was accepted into the Hero Course.

As the first day of class approached, she felt obligated to look at the damned sheet more and more. Was it all a dream? Had it been some mistake? It seemed impossible to her, for her to be accepted into the school she'd been dreaming about for so long. But alas, it was always there. No matter how many times she looked at it, no matter how many times she read the thing, top to bottom, nothing ever seemed off. It was real. It was a dream, but a reality. And with that, she read it once more - maybe now she'd find something to trash her childhood dreams.

 _Akane Hananari,_

 _Your name has come to the attention of this institution as a promising young lady with equally promising abilities. To that effect, it is our enormous pleasure to inform you that you have received an honorary position as student of the prestiged U.A. High School, enrolling in the Hero Course. Should you accept our offer, you are to appear at the entrance exams held at 9am on April 3rd of the current civil year and complete said exams. Upon completion, your student status will be permanent as long as our school regulations are not at stake or outright violated. We wholeheartedly expect your acceptance of our offer, and await you eagerly._

 _Best regards,_

 _Principal Yaoyorozu_

Word by word, it was all the same. No period or comma was moved, no word replaced, no nothing. By this point, it almost felt like Akane could quote the entire letter from memory, but she felt weighing herself with the task was far too troublesome - only one thing mattered at this point, passing the entrance exam.

"Akane?" she heard someone call.

"Coming!"

Zip in her step once more, she dashed out of her room and turned right to run down the hallway, the smell of curry rice wafting in the air, dense, rich, spicy. She looked down at the dining room table to find her younger brother, legs swinging back and forth as he impatiently waited for Akane.

"Took you long enough!" he whined, cheeks puffed out in innocent annoyance.

With a small chuckle, she ruffled his short red bowlcut, earning a childish groan from him. "Good morning to you too, Kaito." she greeted as she sat down next to him, a smile plastered on her face. She could only think of tomorrow.

"Why are you smiling, big sis?" Kaito's eyes - usually a dark red color - were sparkling, curious, inquisitive, like most children his age tended to be sometimes. "Did you do something naughty to papa?"

"Hm?" she replied out of habit, though an instant later she had already processed her brother's question. "No, no." she shook the question off. "Big sis is excited for school."

Kaito's hair drooped as he tilted his head to the side with a pouty confusion. School? In his mind, school was the last thing anyone could be happy about. After all, the people in cartoons always found school so boring! "Oh!" he faked understanding, his head bolting to its previous upright position. To him, he'd seem more intelligent in his sister's eyes. "I see! Okay!" he smiled, eyes squinty and legs wobbling back and forth beneath the tablecloth once again.

Relieved that her brother seemed to understand her situation, she rested her elbows to the right and left of her empty plate and nested her chin in her palms. As so she daydreamed - it was all that mattered today. Except it wasn't. There were bags to pack, last minute training to get done and most of all, curry rice to eat. There was no time to daydream, but even then, she wouldn't stop. She'd been in the school so many times - school trips, take your child to work day, regular visits - but it was such a momentous occasion this time. It wasn't a visit, it was a test that might as well decide whether she is or isn't a hero.

And as far as she was concerned... she was.

* * *

 ** _April 3rd, 9:00am_**

The doors opened. The opening of the main gate to the grand hall of U.A. High School swiftly drowned out any passive chatter as the potential soon-to-be students stared in awe. The silence was tense and anxious, but at the same time filled with excitement and vigor - expected from the vast amount of feelings among all the students around Akane at the moment.

It was then that a tall, beautiful woman with jet-black hair came out. To say she was well-known was a grave understatement. The beautiful but deadly hero, the principal of U.A. High School, the number 6 hero in Japan and a student of U.A. herself... the Everything Hero: Creati, also known as Momo Yaoyorozu!

 **MOMO YAOYOROZU "CREATI"**  
 **QUIRK: CREATION _  
_Using her quirk, Creati can make any non-living material by manipulating her body fat at a molecular level. This requires exposing skin and knowledge of the material's atomic structure.**

"Welcome, one and all, to the Hero Course's entrance exams!" she announced with fervent enthusiasm. Looking around the crowd, she spied the potential of every last one of the teens present, sending a collective chill down the most nervous of them. "We are gathered here today to see fervent displays of power, care and knowledge! To witness the births of our country's greatest heroes, who will one day carry the world in their hands! And you, all of you, are our hope. So, to start things off, I must ask every one of you for a round of applause! Applause for all of you, the hope of our country and our planet!" she started, before a thunderous round of applause broke out, almost unanimously.

As the noise died down, Principal Yaoyorozu went through all the necessary segments of the entrance exam. The greeting, the filing into the auditorium, presenting a few members of the staff who would aid the students in understanding the exam, amongst other things, and at last, the moment Akane'd been waiting for arrived.

"And now, a brief explanation of what your entrance exam will entail!" Creati began. As she explained, illustrations showed up on the screen behind her in order to ease the students into the process. "You have been divided into ten different groups! Each group will go into a different battle facility to carry out their mission. Worry not, they are all exactly the same size and have the exact same layout, which means no group will be favored or put at a disadvantage! Your mission is to collect points by defeating your targets... these!"

The moment she announced the targets, four silhouettes appeared on the giant screen. One by one, left to right, they lit up. They were giant, humanoid mechs with different numbers on their metallic husks - 0 to 3. The grey zero point one seemed mildly inoffensive, almost like a decoy. The blue one point was apparently equipped with close-combat abilities. The green two pointer seemed to be able to fire some kind of projectiles from launchers on both sides of its body. Finally, the red one - value: 3 points - was significantly bigger and more menacing with launchers and claws.

"These robots are your method of gaining points! The numbers on their heads are the points you get by destroying our mechs, and they all increase along with their difficulty level, maximizing the risk vs. reward of this test. Your points will be tallied up at the end of this fifteen-minute long examination and our top contenders will be accepted into our Hero Course, as per school regulations! Now, if you look below your seats, you shall find two items! Please, procure these."

Following instructions, most of the students bowed down to reach the items the Everything Hero mentioned, and Akane luckily found them both with no trouble. The first one was a small watch. As Akane inspected it, the Principal explained its functions- the watch was the students' means of checking their own point total. As expected, everyone in the room had their totals as 0 points. The second item was a sort of identification - her photograph, name, quirk description, age, height and weight were all there. Turning the card around revealed a new, vital piece of information.

"If you would please turn your identification cards around, you shall see which group you will be placed in! Everyone in Group A will meet at the main gate of Battle Facility A, and so forth until all ten groups are accounted for. Attendance is, of course, mandatory!" she joked, though it wasn't as well-received as Creati had secretly hoped. With a clear of the throat, Yaoyorozu shook the awkwardness away and concluded. "This marks the end of our initial briefing! Everyone, please leave in an orderly fashion and meet at the gate to your group's Battle Facility! Don't be afraid to ask staff for any information, should you have any questions. That is all, thank you." she added, before stepping aside from behind the wooden stand where she stood and bowing to the public. With a quick movement, she returned to the stand, gripping the microphone in her left hand. "And best of luck!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, the room was drowned in loud voices as everyone felt the need to push and pull their way out of the auditorium and towards their destination. Akane looked at the backside of her card one last time and read it attentively. 'Battle Facility D'.

"Sounds like we're in the same group." A male voice called to Akane from her right side. Startled, she looked at the boy and studied his features, although a bit rushed. He was a short fellow, maybe even shorter than Hananari herself, with spiky, dirty blond hair and hazel eyes that although soft, were somehow distinctly masculine. Clad in a tanktop and shorts, he didn't have the look of a hero, though Akane knows better than to judge people by their first impressions. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to startle you." he apologized, genuinely yet with a slight lack of interest.

"N-No problem. You're in group D, then?"

"Yep. That's what my card says anyway. Wanna go together?"

"Sure, I guess." Akane accepted reluctantly. Call her paranoid, but making friends in the entrance exam could go wrong exceedingly quickly.

"Cool." he nodded with a slight smile. "I'm Makoto."

 **MAKOTO TANAKA**  
 **QUIRK: POLARIZE  
Anything Makoto touches when using his quirk is given magnetic properties. His left hand polarizes south, and his right hand polarizes north.**

"Akane, nice to meet you. Should we get going?"

* * *

 _A/N: That is all for today, folks! For those who are expecting updates from my DR and Pokémon SYOCs I have, uh, well mostly cancelled them? I still really like the plans I have for both so I might go and keep writing them someday, but they are (and have been for a long while) on a hiatus! In the meantime, I need to get my writing groove back so have some BNHA next-gen stuff to keep you up a few extra minutes before going to sleep I guess? Updates will be WILDLY sporadic throughout this one as per usual, as this isn't something I'm 100% commited to quite yet. Just a hobby~_

 _Anyways, that's it for now! Tell me your opinions of the characters' quirks so far in the comments, it can help me flesh them out!_


	2. Chapter 2 - The Entrance Exam

_Review replies!_

 _Thanks for the kind words on chapter 1 to those who did review it! I really appreciate any and all reviews, questions or criticism from anyone. I'll try to make this story something for everyone to enjoy! To answer **Moclab** 's question, no, this isn't a SYOC. But if you want to send me an OC of yours, I'd be glad to try and make them at least a cameo! I'll eventually need loads of other characters to act as villains, heroes and other students, and I'd enjoy help creating them - with all proper credit, of course._

 _That is all. On with the chapter!_

* * *

 **HER HERO ACADEMIA**

 **CHAPTER 2: The Entrance Exam**

* * *

 ** _April 3rd, 9:52am_**

"U.A. really is something else, huh?" Makoto commented, eyeing nothing in particular. Hazel darting from one cloud to the next, quirk to quirk, his mind didn't race as much as it enjoyed a stroll through the brief moments of respite they'd managed to enjoy before the exam. "Imagine any other high school actually following the schedules they post online."

Akane nodded, careful to not lose her focus. "I guess so." she answered, dry, awkward, quick.

"Not very talkative, are you?" he sighed.

For a brief moment, Akane's concentration was toppled. How she wished to have come here alone. "Just trying to focus on the exam, that's all." she replied assertively. "Shouldn't you do the same?"

"Shady." he smirked jokingly. Makoto's gaze was suddenly focused on Akane, the redhead feeling a bit uncomfortable at the quick change. "I'm fine. I thought you'd be as well." he confessed, before letting a long groan escape. "How could you not be? You've had your quirk for a while, I take it. As long as you know how to use it, you should be okay."

"Can't argue with that, but don't you want this? Look around you." she did as she herself instructed and took a peek at her competition. The other potential hero-to-be's were decked out, fully geared up for combat - stretching, jabbing at nothing specific, doing some breathing exercises. "Everyone's getting ready. Getting preparation time you're wasting." she said, before correcting herself. " _We're_ wasting."

"Meh." he shrugged. "I'm confident."

"Maybe too confident." Akane warned her new acquaintance, though only mentally. Replying would involve further conversation, and in her mind, it wasn't the time to do that.

Cleansing her mind of any interference, she breathed in and out, in and out, mentally reviewing her training the day before.

She was ready. Or at the very least, she felt ready. Was ready enough, though? It would have to be.

Breathe in... and out... in... an-

"Future heroes and students of U.A. High School," the speakers on each side of the walled city-like Battle Facility D blared out, breaking Akane's last moment to concentrate. The encouraging words of Creati sounding out, she pumped herself up, "the entrance examination will begin in a matter of seconds. Please ready yourselves at the gate to your respective Battle Facility. You are free to begin completing your assigned task as soon as you are within its walls. Do your best!"

With Akane's final exhale, went all worries that plagued her mind until then. Every fiber of her being was filled with energy and determination - the determination to persevere,

to be a hero,

to go beyond. "Plus Ultra." she whispered to herself, raising her chin, eyes on the closed metal gate. "Do your best." she saluted Makoto, though not stopping to look at him.

 _3..._

"Oh?" he interjected, taken aback.

 _2..._

"Heh." Out of the corner of her eye, Akane saw it. Makoto winked, a smirk on his face and his left thumb poking up from his fist.

 _1..._

"You too."

 _Entrance Exam Begin!_

The gates of Battle Facility D hadn't fully opened when cat-like creatures and human torches flooded the entrance to the complex, pushing, pulling and floating their way inside to get the proverbial upper hand, gathering easy points from any robots located nearby.

At the speed she'd trained hard to reach, Akane bolted past her competition, trying to reach the more densely populated areas at the back of the structure. A comfortable distance away from her peers, she started slowing down, recovering from her sprint and going into a completely different mindset - searching for points. All her senses heightened, she paced around the right corners of the facility streets.

"There you are." she thought aloud, though not loud enough to attract unwarranted attention. Eyes on the prize, Akane scanned the target in front of her - a mech, completely coated in green metal, save for a conspicuous '2' on the hull. "Bingo." she smirked, reshifting her focus to offense. As she raced towards the robot, she reminded herself.

Alert, the robot had no qualms when identifying a possible target running up to it. Its visor shifted, crosshairs locking onto the incoming attacker as it readied the protrusion in its shoulder. Its hull dislocated with a sharp metallic noise, and out came what seemed to be a small gun or cannon. Shining, delicate, precise, like a-

"Laser." the girl inferred from the shape and size of the gun. The tip of the weapon glowed for instants, giving Akane the opening she needed and desperately wanted. A fine beam of light erupted from the steel cylinder just in time for the heroine to block it with her left hand, the red energy dissipating into her own body like it simply didn't matter.

Refusing to wait a single instant, her right arm stretched out, palm forward as she reflected what she'd been struggling to consume. A quick bolt of light shot out of her hand, hitting the robot who had yet to cease fire on the young Hananari. Though as the robot was hit by the blast, an explosion went off and the green mech was no more. Smoke rising from the lifeless husk, Akane checked her wrist for a confirmation - indeed, she had scored her first two points.

Either the laser she'd absorbed had quite the intensity, or these robots were fully built with offense in mind, though the latter was improbable. The number one high school wouldn't test their examinees with anything but the fiercest of tasks. Clearly, playtime had been over for a while.

With no time to spare, Akane sprinted away towards new enemies, two points and a fistful of laser beam in tow.

As she turned the next corner on the right, she noticed two red robots strikingly close to each other. Stopping dead in her tracks, she stood in the middle of the crossroads, one eye closed as she focused on her targets. Aim, shoot, "score." she smirked as one of the red robots collapsed to a bull's eye shot. Unable to react in time, its cohort - the other 3-point robot - met a similar end, adding 6 points to Akane's total in a matter of seconds.

 _Thud._

Shivers climbed up Akane's spine as she froze for a moment. Reflexively, she turned back as quick as she could, unprepared for the sight in front of her. Not too similar to her prior victories, a blue mechanical humanoid with the number 1 posed menacingly in front of her, though the distance made it seem far more threatening than its bigger, better, more powerful red cousins. Stepping back, she avoided the robot's next step - one that would have surely either crushed her or sent her flying.

Propping up her reflective arm, she was gutted to realize maybe she'd overused the laser on the past two targets, as nary a photon dared exit her palm this time. Panicked, Akane cursed her understatement as she hurried back to think of a plan B. "Since he doesn't have any long-range battle abilities, I can't run away and force him to use anything... even if I could, I'd probably run into other robots on the way and be driven into a corner. There doesn't seem to be anything else I can absorb if this thing keeps using his body to attack me. Any close-range attack on my end would be basically suicide... wait-"

And then it clicked - a new strategy. A strategy she'd actually been working on for the past few days as a last resort should she find herself with nothing else to reflect. But in what way would she pull it off in this particular situation?

Rushed by pure adrenaline, Akane recalled whatever she had in store.

 _The stove? No._

 _The nightlight? No!_

 _The sh- shower!_

"Taaaake, this!" Akane screamed out threateningly as a gush of water shot out of her palm, right onto her metal adversary. To a bystander, it seemed like her attempt at a short-circuit did little else than making the navy blue glisten in the morning light - and for a second, even Hananari herself lost a bit of hope. Until the ground shook.

Alerted by the thud that'd seemed to come from behind her, Akane turned around to see the fallen metal solider, tripped up by the water on the ground. Taking this newly-immobilized robot as her opportunity, she approached the robot, noticing a dent in its steel armor which exposed a myriad of seemingly important wires. To neutralize said power cords, she whipped out the weapon she had previously thought of - the gas from her kitchen stove, which combusted beautifully as it melted wires into themselves, forming a dangerous mush. Sparks flying, the mirror girl thought it should suffice, as the robot's one point had already been added to her total.

Worried, however, she took the entire test into account. They had only fifteen minutes, around five of which she had already burned out while running to this deserted area and defeating the four robots, earning her a total of nine points. If she kept up this pace, she'd only be able to reach a measly 27 points - not nearly the scored of previous years.

Fueled once more, Akane ventured into new streets in search of new opponents to destroy. She had plenty of time to catch up - but none to lose.

* * *

"That makes 32." she congratulated herself silently as another red robot bit the dust. For the past minutes, everything had gone according to her initial plan - Akane would absorb lasers from red and green units, and give the robots a taste of their own medicine. Panting, her muscles felt like giving out from overexertion after seriously kicking into overdrive, but she forced herself to stay motivated and alert. The test wasn't over.

Cocking her arm gun, she fired another beam, knocking out an unobserving blue in a single shot.

"33." she updated mentally, before going off on a small tangent. "This is going way smoother than I expected. By this point, I thought the supply of points near the entrance would have depleted enough for people to start fanning out into these areas..." she wondered, but immediately shook her head, ignoring her own thoughts. "Doesn't matter, Akane, focus!"

Following her own advice, her mind blanked as she hurried to the next crossroads, hoping to find some more easy points.

"What was that?" she couldn't help but voice her own thoughts instinctively. A breeze cut through the avenue Akane was in, cold, harsh, sudden. What could have caused such a gale? Or maybe... who? Already moving towards the direction of the wind, her interest was piqued.

Noticing a foreign, human presence, the girl directed a piercing dark blue look at Akane in an instant, smoke creating a pillar from a crushed piece of green scrap beside her. Her long pink hair beginning to settle down with the wind, she squinted. "Who might you be?" she mouthed, though not loud enough for Akane to hear. Jetting in her direction, the female got dangerously close to the mirror girl. "Who're you!?" she asked, a bit aggressively.

"Akane Hananari." she replied, not budging. Maybe due to lack of reflexes on her part, or the severe height difference on the other girl's, but she was barely fazed by the incoming pink girl.

Crossing her arms, she squinted once more, but smiled not long afterwards. "My name is Kokoro! Let's work together!" she immediately suggested, throwing a fist in the air enthusiastically.

Confused, Akane tilted her head ever so slightly. "Excuse me?"

"Work together! Teamwork means more points, riiiight?" Kokoro pointed out.

"Not necessarily, no." Akane pondered, as she felt the gears in her mind start to turn and grind together. Sure, a two-against-one scenario would be ideal in order to defeat the most robots in the least amount of time - but how would point distribution work? Could they really take the risk of points being allocated only to the one who delivered the final blow? Akane hadn't given it much thought, but it was a distinct possibility.

"Behind you!" Kokoro's eyes widened as she shouted, thrusting both her palms forward as an intense burst of wind was emitted from her palms.

A bit uselessly, Akane tried to defend by absorbing Kokoro's fierce typhoon, but the wide range of the pink-haired girl's attack knocked her off balance, making her collapse to the floor after flying no less than one or two meters, left arm still trying to minimize the impact. Bending her neck so she could look backwards, she noticed a pair of robots - one red and one green, being equally forced to fight against the new direction of the wind.

Back on her feet, Akane fired one of her lasers, unfortunately missing the moving targets. "Shoot." she thought, trying to give it another shot. "Bingo." The beam collided with the red hull of the target, creating a small explosion from which erupted a pillar of smoke - 3 more points added to her total. Immediately, she aimed towards the green mech, normally considered the smaller threat, but- "Crap, I'm out of energy!"

"Don't worry, I've got this one!" Kokoro reassured as she blasted through the air, her palms behind her giving her some much needed impulse. Recognizing the technique, Akane wondered if the girl was familiar with the works of Ground Zero. "Aaaaaand, bye-bye!" she let out her cry as she tensed up her fingers, one of her hardened palms slowly approaching the other, fingers bent inward so the tips almost touched.

As they got closer and closer, the robot stopped, and various dents were seen on its metal cask. Closer... closer... the metal began to twist and break and condense, almost like being crushed by an invisible force. Soon enough, it was rendered inoperable.

Taken aback, Akane couldn't help but look at the girl, standing next to a crushed pile of scrap - much like she did when she was first seen. "Wh-What happened?"

Kokoro turned around sheepishly, rubbing her index fingers against both temples before morphing into a radiant smile. "Heh, that was the Fujiwara way of doing things, of course!" she grinned

 **KOKORO FUJIWARA**  
 **QUIRK: TYPHOON** _ **  
**_ **Kokoro is able to control air pressure in a five-meter radius around her. With this, she can immobilize, crush and knock out targets, and create wind.**

"O-Oh!" Akane mouthed, impressed. Should this girl also get into U.A., one should make a mental note not to be on her bad side. Who knows how bad things could get? One step in the wrong direction and this girl could become one powerful villain. "You're quite powerful."

"My quirk lets me control air pressure!" she explained gleefully. "I can make it super high and crush stuff, or super low and make people dizzy or unconscious! I can also propel stuff through the air like a jet! Cool, right?"

Akane's jaw dropped. As cool as it sounded, it was far too dangerous, maybe too much power for a teenager hero to handle. One can only imagine how stuff must have been when she couldn't control her quirk.

"So, about that teamwork!" Kokoro was quick to suggest a temporary alliance for a second time, but was cut off from her own proposal by a message being dropped from the speakers.

As curious as she was frightened, Akane paid close attention. "Future heroes, eleven minutes have passed since the beginning of the exam. At exactly twelve minutes, a new wave of robots will be sent into the entrance area of your respective Battle Facilities."

"E-Eleven already?" Fujiwara scratched her scalp with worry. "We need to gather more points, Akane, let's go back to the entrance! We only have one minute!" she said. Without taking a step, Akane felt herself being carried away by a mysterious force, no doubt the work of Kokoro's quirk. The sudden changes in air pressure gave her a strange, annoying feeling in her ears - did Kokoro have to deal with this all the time?

In under a minute, the two girls were back at the entrance, the familiar metal door wide open for everyone, though obviously everyone was already inside. The corpses, if one could call them that, of all previously defeated robots littered the area, painting the landscape of red, blue and green, which made Akane realize something... where were the gray robots that were worth zero points? For a mechanic introduced at the very beginning, everyone found it weird that not a single one had been located.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Akane groaned, adopting a battle stance, the sounds of explosions and metal hitting concrete coming from every direction. And muffling all the noise, one voice towered above all others, much more robotic than the previous speaker announcements.

 _"Releasing wave two..."_ the automated message sounded off, opening what was revealed to be an entirely hollow building, the top of it almost reaching the clouds. And inside the building was, indeed, one robot from the new wave. Looking around, no other structures showed any signs of change, and the only robots in the vicinity were the carcasses of the previously defeated. It dawned on all others a moment later than it did on Akane... the giant robot was a boss of sorts, it was the entirety of the second wave. And its color... gray.

"What the hell do we do about that?!" someone shouted out. Footsteps hurriedly dissipated as people ran farther and farther away from Akane, who was face to face with the huge beast, several stories tall.

"Run away!"

"It's not even worth any points, what the hell!?"

Turning on her heels, Akane made a run for it, significantly later than her peers.

"Worry not, citizens!" a loud, boisterous voice made itself sound off from above. Who could it possibly be? And where?

Panicking at the size of the robotic monstrosity in front of them, no one could pinpoint the source of the female voice that had echoed in their ears. Eyes moved in a flurry, their movements erratic, unpredictable, almost involuntary. And at last, a single boy pointed at the building the robot had just exited, slow, heavy steps making the ground quake.

On the side of the edifice, a girl climbed up the wall with cat-like reflexes, almost as if her hands, knees and feet were glued to the floor by some kind of gravity. Time went by exceedingly slowly for anyone watching as the girl, her short, almost boy-ish teal hair making the movement look even more streamlined and agile.

"What is she doing?"

"Get outta there!"

"Leave her alone, she's wasting her own time!"

"Right, I'm getting back to destroying actual targets!"

Comments were thrown around haphazardly as more and more people exited the entrance area in search of more points, but Akane, and interestingly enough, Kokoro were frozen stiff, interested in the developments this might take.

"Go back to hunting for the mechs, Akane, what are you doing!?" she screamed at herself in her own mind, but a part of her, a small part of her, simply would not budge. What if that girl injured herself? "Doesn't matter! U.A. will treat her injuries if it comes to it, and even then, it'd be her own damn fault! Move!" But no muscle so much as twitched. Akane cursed her own inability to decide. She felt guilty. What if this meant she didn't get into her dream high school? Would she really lose everything she worked so hard towards because of this?

As the thoughts spun around Akane's brain like crows, the girl had reached the top of the building, resting for a few seconds.

"Oh, what now?" Kokoro's voice trembled. The building was a veritable skyscraper, and it looked like "She's going to jump!?"

"BAAAANZAAAAAAAI!"

And with that, the descent began. Her skin looked clear, with a slight bluish tint, like seeing a diamond bullet fired from a cannon. She started spinning, spiraling, a graceful pirouette from a girl tumbling towards a robot several hundred times the size of her own body. And just as she approached the robot, Kokoro closed her eyes, unable to see if she'd survive that head-first fall and live to tell the tale, but to everyone present's surprise, she simply... vanished for a second, appearing on the other side of the robot's metal head, a clean bullet hole from one side to the other, sparks flying from the exposed wounds.

"Wh-Wha...?"

"Did she do it!?"

"I-It stopped moving!"

"That means..." a deep male voice reverberated through the people around him. "...it's gonna fall! Run!"

And almost as if on cue, everything started happening at once. Panicked hero-to-bes started running away from any possible falling objects or explosions, right as the robot fell to his knees. But none of that worried Akane, as the light reflected off of some surface above her caught her attention. The girl, seemingly endangered, fell to the ground after her heroic defeating of the robot, and with nothing to cushion her fall, maybe she wouldn't be so lucky.

"Akane, no!" Kokoro shouted as she saw her red-haired ally rushing to catch her falling comrade. "You're not going to-"

But Akane refused to listen - or maybe she couldn't, or maybe she didn't. Intensely concentrated on saving the girl with teal hair, her legs moved on their own, sprinting even faster than she did at the very beginning, even though she lacked any clear plan. She only had seconds to devise a way to save her... but what!?

 _Crossing her arms, she squinted once more, but smiled not long afterwards. "My name is Kokoro! Let's work together!" she immediately suggested, throwing a fist in the air enthusiastically._

"Yes!"

 _"Behind you!" Kokoro's eyes widened as she shouted, thrusting both her palms forward as an intense burst of wind was emitted from her palms._

"That's it!"

 _A bit uselessly, Akane tried to defend by absorbing Kokoro's fierce typhoon, but the wide range of the pink-haired girl's attack knocked her off balance, making her collapse to the floor after flying no less than one or two meters, left arm still trying to minimize the impact._

"Thank you, Kokoro!"

Hoping for the best, Akane was now right below the heroine, her face peaceful, calm, blissfully unaware of the danger around her. Her right arm shot up as she gave one quick final prayer for the girl's safety. A huge burst of wind erupted from Hananari's palm. Heavy pain shot through her body as she fell to the ground, the force of the wind pushing her back. Had she absorbed enough?

Bit by bit, the girl seemed to approach Akane more slowly, almost as if the crashing of an airplane had been replaced by a feather, floating gently to the floor. The wind started to peter out as her supply ran out, and the mirror girl fell to the ground, her arm almost refusing to move any longer. With a violent thud, the girl fell down next to Akane, her skin back to its regular pink-ish color.

The groaning and creaking of metal alerted the mirror hero one last time, as the giant robot above her threatened to fall.

"Bloody idiot!" a female voice shouted agressively as the wind blew past. Opening her eyes, Akane saw Kokoro's long pink locks fluterring with the breeze she had no doubt created to get here this quickly. Now less conscious than the previous time, the force didn't move her as much as it pushed her from random directions, uncomfortably shifting her balance as she tossed and turned in mid-air, to the left of Kokoro, the other girl to her right. "Akane, what were you thinking!?"

Akane stayed silent as the metal husk of the giant robot decayed, debris hitting the floor at irregular intervals, the sound of creaking metal being once again very noticeable. What WAS she thinking? Had she just thrown away her spot at U.A. because of this? Were her 36 points enough? What if sh-

"Young heroes, the fifteen-minute time limit is over! Thank you for your participating. Please gather outside to find out who are the 10 people in your group who are officially members of the Hero Course, as of right now! Great job, everyone!"

...

Her shoulder still wounded, Akane left the exam area with Kokoro. The teal-haired girl was carried away after her near-suicidal heroic act, off to a recovery area for injured examinees. As the doors shut once more, the tattling and chatting amongst people began, talking about their own totals and comparing them - Akane however, preferred to be left alone, so as to not stress even more before the momentous reveal.

A friendly pat on her left shoulder caught Akane's attention. "It'll be fine. We both did good! I think so, anyway."

"Thanks, Kokoro" Akane replied, forcing a smile, though her inner self was as far from feeling happy as possible. A mix of pain and frustration hit her hard every time she moved her shoulder, and it grew more intense with every instance. As the tense seconds passed, Principal Yaoyorozu herself showed up.

The potential students greeted her with a silent, respectful bow, to which she sheepishly returned the gesture. "Hello there, future heroes! You did amazing out there, and truly embodied the spirit of our school... being a hero is all about being motivated, about being determined, and about wanting to go beyond."

"Plus Ultra!" the crowd added, unrehearsed.

Creati chuckled. "Indeed. Alas, only ten of you will pass - the ten of you who managed to get the highest point totals. Your full names will be called out in order, as well the points you've accumulated. But before that, we have an announcement to make. A secret way to gain extra points you hadn't been notified of."

It was almost scary to see how quick silence filled the premises. Akane's heart skipped. Was there hope?

"In addition to the RP or Robot Points you have all managed to obtain, we also had a second set of points. This point total is not trackable by your devices, as it it a sort of judging based on the actions you all performed. The judges are none other than staff of U.A. High, as well as former alumni such as myself and other heroes you are no doubt familiar with. They had a hand in choosing who their successors will be! Now... on with the point reveal."

 _In 10th place, with 49 points... Sousuke Momohara_

 _In 9th place, with 55 points..._

As soon as the tenth place name had been called, Akane's heartbeat doubled. He had gotten more points than her measly 36... what if the judges had given her zero based on their own standards and parameters?

 _In 8th place, with 59 points..._

Had she given up her dream without realizing it?

 _In 7th place, with 62 points... Yui Aihara._

Was she wrong to save the girl?

 _In 6th place, with 64 points... Makoto Tanaka_

Should she have run away and defeated more robots during those final minutes?

 _In 5th place, with 70 points..._

 _In 4th place, also with 70 points..._

She wanted only to hear her own name.

 _In 3rd place, with 72 points... Kokoro Fujiwara._

 _In 2nd place, with 76 points... Akane Hananari._

 _In 1st place, with 77 points... Hadan Kirishima._

To the names I called out... welcome to the Hero Course!

* * *

 _A/N: Aaaand that's chapter 2! Double the length of chapter one because I felt inspired and didn't want to break the action mid-chapter to keep up with the length I had going. This is basically my first attempt such a long battle sequence but I didn't want to let any detail escape so yeah, please comment on how much you liked or disliked the action this chapter - it was certainly a huge jump from the quaint feel of the last chapter. Aaaaanyway, that's it for now! I'll see you next update, and remember to go beyond - PLUS ULTRA!_


	3. Chapter 3 - Welcome to UA High

**HER HERO ACADEMIA**

 **CHAPTER 3: Welcome to U.A. High**

* * *

 ** _April 11th, 11:10pm_**

"Big sis, big sis!" Kaito's bowlcut bounced in a funny way as he tackled the door to Akane's room, opening it suddenly. The red-haired female sat up on the bed, a book falling to her lap in surprise. Propelling himself with his legs, he threw himself onto the bed, forcing his sister to hurriedly move her legs away from the landing zone.

Startled, Akane asked. "What happened, Kaito?" Her eyes darted over to the lit screen on the device he was holding, his toddler hand being much too small to grip it comfortably. Intently watching the screen, the smaller boy almost ignored his big sister's question, who still looked at him in confusion. And then, it happened.

With a swift, but equally clunky movement, Kaito swung his arm forward, the lit screen mere centimeters away from Akane's face, who flinched at the sudden brightness that'd came to her. Her eyes squinted in response to the light, and she tried to focus on whatever the younger Hananari was showing her. Right as she noticed the time, almost as if on cue, Kaito spoke up. "Make a wish, big sis!"

Akane's hand clawed at Kaito's head with a loving rub. Chuckling, she quickly tried to think of a wish but was interrupted by a quick shuffling of the bedsheets that covered her, and her brother's footsteps quickly became more and more muffled by the distance as he ran towards the living room - or perhaps his mother's bedroom? - to share the good news with the rest of the house.

"Huh." she exhaled, as she let her back meet the mattress below her, legs closing on impact, clumsily crushing Akane's book between the thighs. Unfettered by the happening, she couldn't help but fall into a daze as the gears in her mind turned and turned. What would she wish for? The more she thought of it, the less sure she was. Just a few days ago, the dream she'd been fighting for for years had finally came true - U.A. was not a goal anymore, it was reality.

Arching her back ever so slightly, she was now resting on her elbows, arms bent to the side as she gazed at the corkboard on the opposite wall, the acceptance letter ever so present, and ever so satisfying to gaze at. A question hovered in Akane's mind, big and imposing, casting its shadow over all others. What now?

A sigh escaped her smiling lips as she plopped back down, staring at the ceiling, seconds passing by. She didn't have much time left to wish for it - whatever "it" was to her. Could a wish turn her into the greatest pro hero in Japan? Or maybe even the world? Perhaps it could, but to be given that title through a random 11:11 wish would be offensive to all the hard-working pros out there, would it not?

Seconds became slower and slower as Akane's eyelids slid down, a smile on her face, an important realization materializing in her mind. "Maybe I don't need to wish for anything." she thought to herself, sinking deeper into the bedsheets. With a quick movement, she placed her book under the bed and snuggled herself further into the soft, yet unusually cool bed. And as she drifted to sleep, the sixtieth second ticked.

* * *

 ** _April 12th, 7:33am_**

"Notebook, check. Pens, check. Phone, check. Earphones, check. Extra clothes, check, underwear included." Akane knew all too well it was far too late to go back if she _did_ forget something, but being by herself in an early commute to school had her thinking, checking everything she had and hadn't brought with her, though even she didn't know what she was trying to accomplish.

Maybe she was trying to distract herself, trying to overshadow her towering first-day anxiety. Perhaps she was satisfying her borderline-obsessive need to have everything run smoothly. Then again, there was also the chance she was just bored. But Akane was painfully sure of one thing - whatever it was, it was not working.

A deafening screech sounded off as the train grinded to a full stop, followed by the whirring of the doors opening. Almost immediately, people crowded the train car even further, only a small handful trickling out of it as near worthless consolation for the ones who remained. Several eyes focused on Akane, envious of her ability to get a seat.

"Mornin'!" a familiar sounding voice got Akane's attention, and she was met by an equally familiar close-eyed grin, framed between two light-pink braids. "Funny running into you here!"

Akane smiled back at Kokoro, who she hadn't met with since the entrance exam finished. "Good morning." she greeted back. "How's it going?"

Shifting her backpack strap into a more comfortable position, Kokoro sighed with a smile on her face. "Pretty good, as you can imagine. We're off to our first day, after all, so I'm super excited! What about you?"

"The same, though I'm more than a little nervous." she replied honestly, though saying 'a little' might have been too much of an understatement.

"Figures." Kokoro nodded, scratching the back of her neck. "But we gotta get pumped up if we want to succeed as heroes, right?"

"Right indeed." Akane smiled.

Curious, the young girl leaned forward, towards Akane, her amber eyes squinting ever so slightly. "Is your shoulder all patched up?"

"Yeah! I had a pretty speedy recovery, actually." she explained, rotating her right shoulder.

Kokoro couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad... I'd never seen anyone but me or my father using our Quirk like that! It was super dope to see how you adapted on the fly like that, Akane!"

Akane chuckled sheepishly, happy to have someone compliment her abilities. "Stop, stop, I really don't deserve all the praise. I couldn't have done it without you, after all. And to have a gust of wind that powerful, you must really be something else."

"Hell yeah!" she cheered, clenching her first right next to her face, a victorious grin plastered on it. "I feel like we could become a great duo, Akane!"

"Maybe so." the mirror girl conceded, her red high ponytail swaying as she shook, the train slowing down as another stop approached. "This should be our stop, right?" she added. Kokoro nodded in response, prompting Akane to stand up. Off balance, she shook even harder as the train finally stopped.

Adults and teenagers alike rushed in and out of the train car in mere seconds, the hustle and bustle of the area being noticeable at a distance. Swiping their tickets at the exit turnstiles, the two girls looked around for the gate and quickly left the station, greeted by the spring air - certainly a change from the musty, cramped train. In a matter of minutes, they had arrived at the gate.

Tightening her ponytail, Akane took a deep breath as she entered the outside patio, a wide, linear brick path being the only obstacle standing between her and the main gate she so anxiously awaited to enter. Unwilling to stop herself from smiling, she took her first step, Kokoro in tow, also giddy with excitement.

Wordlessly, they walked straight ahead and into the building, the main entrance a confusing mixture of imposing and welcoming. From the moment they stepped inside, it felt like the hopes of the people outside and the expectations of other heroes were all thrown onto their shoulders. The metaphorical weight was clear, but in the girls' minds, perfectly manageable, as long as you were willing.

"Hey, Akane!" Kokoro called, pointing at a bulletin board in the far back, a few stray students looking at it intently. Without much thinking, Akane paced over to the pink-haired soon-to-be hero as she approached the board, words coming into focus. 'Class 1-A' 'Class 1-B' 'Class 1-C' 'Class 1-D' 'Class 1-E'

Five sheets of paper hung on the light-blue board, stuck to it through pins placed in their upper corners. In information, all the sheets were mostly similar - at the very top, in big, bold letter, was the class (A through E), and below it a list of several students, no doubt the students who had been placed in said class.

Looking through the list of Class 1-A, the leftmost one, Kokoro was pleased to find her name as quickly as she did. "Hey, Akane, check this out!" she suggested, gesturing to a specific student in the list. At first glance, one would think Kokoro was pointing at her own name, but upon closer inspection, it was clear she was pointing at the one directly below hers.

"Akane Hananari!" the red-eyed girl cheered. "We're in the same class! Talk about coincidence." she added, laughing a bit at the odds of it happening.

"No, no, it must be fate!" Kokoro started, sure of herself. "It's a sign from the universe, Akane! A sign that we will be great heroes if we work together!"

Unsure of what to reply, Akane simply chuckled. "Maybe you're right. We shouldn't be here for too long, though. Let's get to the classroom."

"Right!" Kokoro agreed, looking back at the sheet of paper in search of more information. "Huh... I don't find anything about classroom here. How'll we find it?"

"It's right down this hall, and up the stairs!" Akane gestured to the hallway to their right with conviction. "I'll lead the way, don't worry."

Slightly confused at her friend's knowledge of the school interior, Kokoro trusted Akane's directions, and traced her steps towards the upper floors of the academy. Impressed by Akane's know-how of how to traverse the halls of the school, she couldn't help but ask. "How come you know the way to our classroom? We didn't come here during the exams, did we?"

"What do you mean?" Akane replied with a certain amount of hesitation, almost as if the answer was obvious. "Classrooms never change places, as far as I know. Class 1-A's room has been in the same place for quite a few years."

"No, no..." Kokoro shook her head, hurrying along so she was next to Akane, instead of behind her. "I mean, how do you know where it was years ago?"

"Oh..." she interjected, realizing they'd never talked about Akane's circumstances. "I forgot I didn't tell you. My mother actually works here."

The sound of Kokoro's footsteps stopped, and out of the corner of her eye, the mirror girl saw her classmate disappear into nothingness. Bewildered, she turned around to see the pink haired teenager, a dumbfounded look on her face. In an almost perfect gradient, her own shock was replaced by pleasant surprise as her eyes lit up, jaw dropping while keeping a sort of smile on. "No. Way!"

"Yeah..." Akane shrugged, a bit embarassed. "It's nothing to be super excited about though."

"Say what?" Kokoro was quick to rejoin Akane, their journey resuming, though with a new topic of conversation. "It's totally amazing! Your mother's a pro hero, then, isn't she? Oh, oh, who is she? Do I know her?"

Avoiding the subject a little, Akane gave an evasive yet honest explanation. "She actually took a break from the hero business a couple years ago. She only works in case of emergency."

"That so?" the other girl seeked confirmation, getting a nod from the redhead. Her amber eyes squinting, curiosity piqued, Kokoro asked. "Why is that?"

"Oh, stuff." Akane replied dismissively. "Just... yeah, stuff."

Kokoro rubbed the bridge of her nose and nodded. "Alright then, no need to tell me." Losing her previous composure, she regained her previous excitement. "Still, that is super neat! I wish my parents were heroes."

Akane limited herself to an awkward chuckle, though it seemed like her fellow classmate didn't notice the tension. As the classroom got closer and closer, Kokoro still muttering something to herself, Akane's heart beat a little faster.

Whoever was behind that door would be a class of future heroes. A class of teenagers who, just like her, wanted to help people, save them, and turn the world into a better place by using their own Quirks to do good. At least, that was what she'd envisioned all these years, from all the stories her mother used to tell. The importance of values like teamwork, friendship and motivation are key factors in U.A.'s syllabus. Akane Hananari had been raised under these values, and so, she felt at home.

A firm grip on the handle, the door slid open with a satisfying ring to it. Woken by it, Kokoro noticed she'd arrived, Akane already stepping inside to see a few unfamiliar faces dotted across the room, mixed in with some she could eventually tell apart - had she seen them during the entrance exam, or maybe prior to it beginning?

Shrugging, she walked in. When or where she'd met her classmates didn't matter all that much, as long as what happens after that meeting is positive. At least, that was Akane's mindset. "Morning." she greeted her peers before moving to the seat next to the window, the one who was furthest back. She was, however, in a losing battle, as the desk had been occupied much earlier.

The figure who sat there was rather... unusual, if anything. Their body was short, plump and oval in shape, almost like a human-sized egg, if a human were about four feet on average. The top of the egg had a short mop of black hair that contrasted the light brown plumage that covered the rest of it. The round figure seemed inanimate at first glance, but as she went to try and remove it from the seat, it seemed to twitch. Curious, she touched the brown oval-shaped, feeling the feathers rustling under her touch.

"Hoo!"

"Ah!" Kokoro, who had been carefully eyeing Akane's motions, shrieked and fell to the floor in surprise, while Akane, though startled, made no such fuss. "Wh-What was that?" she added, rubbing her injured hip as she looked at the seat. Wings seemed to sprout from both sides of the feathered egg, and small, beady black eyes blinked several times at the sudden awakening.

"That isn't nice, hoo!" a shrill yet deep voice erupted from the boy's small beak - one that sounded almost frighteningly similar to what one'd imagine a bird would sound like, could they speak human language. "Touching me while I sleep, hoo! Not cool!"

"I-It can speak!" Kokoro distastefully remarked.

Offended, the bird-like hybrid flapped his wings. "I am not an 'it', hoo! I am a 'he', hoo, and I have a name!"

"Oh, uh, sorry... dude." the pink-haired girl apologized, standing up. As she looked around, all eyes were on her, one or two jokes being thrown around amidst classmates, followed by a stray giggle - short, sweet. "I just... wasn't expecting you to be a dude."

"The audacity! Hoo the hoo do you think you are, hoo!" he flapped his wings rather uselessly, making him more akin to a toddler throwing a tantrum than an enraged teenager - though his habit of throwing owl sounds into random bits of his sentences was not helping his case.

Unsure of what to say, Kokoro felt every bit as confused as she was embarassed, possibly having just ruined her first impression with her new class. Her motherly instincts kicking in, Akane stepped up to the apology. "We're sorry for waking you up. I just wanted to take a seat."

"Well, there are lots of... other hooing seats... hoooooo..." the boy retorted, getting increasingly slower.

Akane nodded, keeping her cool when faced by her quirky new mate. "Yes, but seating arrangements are-"

 _Thud._

With a soft thud, the small ball of feathers fell to the ground, wings shrunk back into his oval-ish body as Akane had just had the proverbial door shut on her face. Quickly crouching down to check on the owl-like boy, she concluded he had just fallen asleep, now resting much like he was doing when Akane first saw him a couple minutes prior.

Almost immediately, another male approached the two girls. "Sorry about that. He went off on most of us already, but he always ended up falling asleep for some reason."

"No problem, I guess." Akane shrugged. "It was our fault for disturbing him." The boy smiled in silent agreement, towering above Akane as most boys her age did - he seemed to be around 180cm tall, if not a bit taller.

The boy smiled and ran his right hand through his spiky brown buzzcut, his matching dark brown eyes darting between Akane and Kokoro at irregular intervals. "I'm Hikaru Kobayashi. If you ever need anything, ring me. I'll do my best to help."

"That's... helpful of you. Thanks." Akane thanked the tall boy genuinely, with an almost indiscernible bow. "Do you have the time?"

Hikaru pursed his thin lips and shook his head. "Nope, sorry. I think it's almost 8am though, so our new teacher should be here any second, uh... what's your name?"

"Oops, sorry."

"I'm Kokoro Fujiwara!" the pink-haired girl pounced on the opportunity to introduce herself, already making a point to not ruin any other first introductions.

"Noted." Hikaru smiled. "And you?"

"Akane Hananari. I hope we can get along."

Interrupted once more, Akane was cut off by a deep, yet distinctly female voice. "Akane Hananari!?" it called. Akane cocked her head to the right, looking behind Hikaru to see a familiar face stomping towards her agressively. "You're Akane Hananari!?" the teal-haired female repeated, probably wanting to be reassured.

"Y-Yes." she hesitated.

"You stupid, stupid idiot!" the girl fumed, her index finger agressively pointing in the direction of Akane's chest, though the pixie cut girl's eyes were staring daggers into Akane's red ones. "I know what you did to me!"

Confused, she shook her head. "What do you mean?"

"The entrance exam!" Kokoro blurted out, a flash of inspiration reminding her of where she knew the girl from. "This is that suicidal heroine who defeated the zero-point robot in the entrance exam!"

"Suicidal!?" the girl's attention was now directed at Kokoro. "Who you calling suicidal, huh? I know full well I was going to survive the fall! And I'd get hella points too, if you didn't interfere!"

At a loss, Akane stayed silent. Should she fight back? Should she apologize for saving this girl's life when her unconscious body fell several dozen feet into solid concrete? It seemed surreal.

Scratching her head in a stressed frenzy, the teal-haired girl continued. "I know why you did it too. You wanted to outwit me and steal my laurels! Have me owe you somethi-"

"Please calm down. I don't know what you're talking about, I saved you because I was worried about you getting injured. I wasn't even aware it'd net me points!"

The temperamental girl's babbling stopped short, as he debate opponent made a valid point. Fact of the matter was, they hadn't heard a peep about the bonus points until after the fifteen-minute time limit had been met. Frantically scratching her scalp once more, she snorted. "Well, I... I... I don't thank you! I would've been fine without you."

Understandably done with this girl's impoliteness, Akane simply nodded. "So be it."

"So be it!? How can you be so... so... passive!? Won't you ask me for what I owe you!?"

"Not at all." she said matter-of-factly. "As long as you're safe, I'm happy. Now, if you excuse me, I'll go back to my seat."

Turning on the tips of her feet, Akane paced over to somewhere far away from the conflict - the desk where the owl boy sat, peacefully resting. Upon a second inspection though, he'd been moved from the floor to the next desk over - and Hikaru was nowhere to be seen during the altercation just now. Had he moved the boy's body by himself?

It didn't matter to Akane at that moment, though her curiosity would insist otherwise. Calmly, she took a seat and rubbed her temple, eyes closed.

"Listen here!" the girl followed suit, banging her palm on the hard wooden lid. "I owe you one, and I won't quit until we're even. Yui Aihara doesn't take spare dimes because she doesn't _need_ spare dimes. This baby is rock solid and works by herself! So, know, Yui Aihara will pay what she owes to you!"

"Fine." Akane accepted the girl's offer, not wanting to prolong the conversation. With a somewhat cold, icy stare, she looked back into the eyes of Yui, eyes that were as dark as the bottom of the ocean, yet had that tinge of blue that caught one off guard.

An angry snort erupted from her nose and her eyes squinted, Yui refusing to look away from Akane as she walked backwards towards her previous seat. Cutting ocular ties herself, Akane looked elsewhere - namely, everywhere else, scanning the classroom for other students. Herself included, she was able to account for sixteen students, divided into small groups or otherwise, and a total of sixteen desks, divided into a grid of four by four. It seemed like everyone in this classroom was a student of Class 1-A, much like herself.

And first impressions were very hit or miss.

The door slid open once more, the sound somehow smoother than before.

If her estimations were correct, then the school clocks should have just ticked 8am, signalling the start of the first day of school, and as such, the first homeroom. That could only mean one thing - whoever was about to enter the room was a pro hero, and not only that, a pro hero who was tasked with molding Akane into the best hero she can be.

A female entered the room, and Akane's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "P-Principal Yaoyorozu?" she thought to herself, as people in class started to take randomly assigned seats. "It couldn't be..."

Instantly, any and all expectations she had were thrown out of the window. Being taught first-hand by the new headmistress of U.A. High - a former alumni who, much like Akane, had entered the school based on recommendations, no less. Could fate really turn something as unlikely as that into reality? Hopeful, Akane's gaze never left the Everything Hero as she made her way to the teachers' desk, a larger version of the students'.

"Good morning, everyone." she began, addressing us all with an early greeting. "And let me formally introduce you to the Hero Course! The sixteen of you are considered by many to be the next generation of pro heroes - you are the future of our country!" Creati added, a certain glimmer in her eyes as she tried to invigorate the students. "I'm here to introduce you to someone."

Seeing where the conversation led, Akane's shoulders slumped. Maybe being taught by Creati herself _was_ too wishful of a thought. Disappointed, but barely surprised at the turn of events, she kept her ears attentive to the headmistress's words. At her command, someone familiar entered the room, donned in his own hero outfit. Almost immediately, Kokoro's eyes lit up - could it really be him? The outfit, the face, it matched him perfectly. And above all else, his Quirk gave his identity away.

"Good morning, everyone." the man's eyes were like small almonds, a lonely black dot marring it and his hair was blond. It seemed to have grown to about shoulder-length since his academy days - or so noticed Momo. The white outfit had barely been modified, bringing back memories of her own school days. "My name is Mashirao Ojiro, also known as the Martial Arts Hero, Tailman. I'll be in charge of Class 1-A during this school year. Let's all do our best, okay?"

 **MASHIRAO OJIRO "TAILMAN"**  
 **QUIRK: TAIL** _ **  
**_ **Tailman's quirk gives him a thick, strong, sturdy tail that might be used for a number of things, from combat to support.**

"Yes, sir!" Kokoro replied enthusiastically, saluting her new teacher with a strong sparkle in her eyes, her excitement reverberating in the silent classroom. Unaware of her own volume, she sat back down and eyed the teacher, calm, quiet, receiving a bashful smile from Mr. Ojiro.

Eyeing the remainder of the class, Tailman started. "Starting today, you'll all be under my wing as U.A. students and future heroes. If any one of you has any question or needs any help, please don't hesitate to tell me. I'll help in any way I can."

"I'll leave you all to introduce yourselves, and afterwards, Tailman here will mold you into heroes. Be sure to follow his directions and try your best. Go beyond!"

"Plus Ultra." the class replied in unison, though maybe slightly less enthusiastically than Creati had expected.

Bidding her farewells with a bow, she exited the room and seventeen people remained in the classroom - sixteen students and their new teacher. Excited by the prospect of being taught by Tailman - though still mildly disappointed at Creati's oblivious fake-out - Akane smiled. A couple seconds had passed before Mr. Ojiro decided the next step in our first homeroom: introductions.

"I only want to know your names and goals." he began. "Don't mention anything about your Quirks. We'll be taking care of that shortly." And as names began to pop up, Akane made sure to try and remember everyone.

Ryoko Kanbayashi, Jun Kurashiki, Mimi Oto, Kasumi Yukimura, Yumi Kurikiba, Sousuke Momohara, Naoki Takahashi, Hikaru Kobayashi, Hana Sochikawa, Makoto Tanaka, Venus Kinjoshi, Masaru Fukurou, Yui Aihara, Daichi Yamazaki, Kokoro Fujiwara.

The last student stood up from the seat in the back, closest to the window. Her chest puffed with pride, and a confident smile on her face. "I'm Akane Hananari and I'm aiming to become the number one hero in the world. Nice to meet you all."


	4. Chapter 4 - Tag, You're Out

**HER HERO ACADEMIA**

 **CHAPTER 4: Tag, You're Out**

* * *

 ** _April 12th, 8:40am_**

"That should be enough for introductions." Mr. Ojiro commented, after a quick rundown of every student in the class. Now that he'd heard all the names, it was only a matter of time until he managed to memorize them and link them to their respective owners. Leaving that debacle for later, however, Tailman spoke up, being mostly silent as the students introduced themselves before. "According to standard U.A. protocol, our first lesson should be treated as a lecture - discussing our study plan for this year, warning you of possible exams or events you'll partake in, among other things."

A few discreet groans sounded off one after the other, overlapping one another at Tailman's words. It was standard protocol, however - mere first-year students couldn't simply go against fancy words like that.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Mashirao Ojiro shook his head. "No need to worry." he began, quickly explaining himself. "We're not forced to follow protocol as long as we feel our methods are beneficial to our students. And from past experience teaching my previous class, I'd say my methods work." he bragged, though that was never his intention. "That being said, we're having a special showcase today."

Confused, gears started turning inside the students' minds. A special showcase? What could that possibly mean? Tailman had previously said something about checking out everyone's quirks after introductions were over.. were those two inklings of information connected somehow?

"What're we doin'?" a female raised her hand and asked, with very little enthusiasm in her tone. She sat in the row opposite Akane's - closest to the door that led to the hallway - though also in the backmost seat.

"You'll all be sparring together in one of U.A.'s battle facilities."

Attention increased by a hundredfold, the boy directly in front of Hikaru sat up in his chair, previously slumped, bored, unamused. "Battle royale style?"

The grey-haired girl who had raised her hand moments before groaned in annoyance at her classmate's question, but chose to remain silent. What could've triggered that reaction, Akane thought, but quickly grew tired of thinking about it. Ready for incoming questions however, the teacher himself gave a brief explanation. "A battle royale scenario would have other conditions," the boy deflated at the explanation, "but you're not far from the mark, Takahashi. I'll have you divided into two teams of eight members. These two teams will go toe-to-toe, and your goal is to incapacitate every member of the opposite team, while avoiding being incapacitated yourself. It's the perfect training method to have you battle against all-new Quirks."

"So we just gotta murder each other?" the grey-haired girl asked once again, her monotone voice making it difficult to understand whether she was joking or not.

"N-Not quite." Tailman used his back appendage to lean against the wall of the classroom, scratching the right side of his jaw bashfully. "You'll be competing in a game of tag." he revealed, his eyes stern.

Suddenly, the classroom went silent. The gentle snoring of the sleeping owl boy was inaudible, and everyone was stunned into silence. Akane began to think about all the possible outcomes of this training method, astonished by how simple yet effective it seemed to be in theory. A supposedly non-violent way to form bonds, teach teamwork and learn how to adapt on the fly when facing unknown Quirks. "Mr. Ojiro is a genius!" she genuinely thought, a smile growing on her face.

Her thoughts didn't seem to be at all congruent with the rest of the class's, however. Disturbing, almost agonizing moans came from random spots in the classroom, catching Akane off guard. Had they not realized the brilliance of Tailman's methods? Was the use of the name 'tag' really that much of a negative? Could these future heroes not bear the strain of training under the pretense of a child's game? Training is training - or so Akane thought - but apparently she was in a minority.

"I don't want to hear any complaints for now." Mr. Ojiro crossed his arms, a stern look on his face. Suddenly, the sheepish, polite teacher they'd seen for nearly an hour was momentarily gone, a more serious side of him blossoming. "You'll all have your chance to prove yourself as fighters - as heroes. But you're all green, inexperienced students. If you don't understand that and try to skip important steps in your training, you'll only set yourselves back. You might know your own ins and outs, your own strengths and weaknesses, but being a pro hero is much more than that. Are we clear?"

Mashirao's sermon seemed to resonate with a few stray souls in the classroom. Suddenly, the tense annoyance in the room dissipated and was slowly replaced by the heart-pounding beat of adrenaline.

"Are we clear?" he repeated, voice deeper, beady eyes squinting.

"Yes, Mr. Ojiro!" the class replied, as excited as Tailman had expected - or, at the very least, hoped.

He had been through this roadblock before, after all... but, in his mind, things would only get more and more difficult from there. This year's Class 1-A would never be the same as his previous one, and so, his own journey to a higher understanding of how to teach began, alongside his new students.

Snapping out of his somewhat philosophical transe, Ojiro nodded sternly, readying himself to pick the teams. Student list in his hands, he called out eight names at random, each one standing up and moving to the right of the classroom's entrance, while the remaining eight paced over to the left, staring at the one who, for the time being, were their rivals.

* * *

 ** _April 12th, 9:30am_**

Time went by exceedingly quickly as the adrenaline rush kicked most of the students into overdrive. The walk between the classroom and the battle facility Mr. Ojiro had suggested had barely scraped at their stamina, even given the massive scale of U.A.'s campus. As the students trickled into the building, the facility proved to be much different than what they had expected - namely, something akin to the enviroment in the entrance exam.

The structure of the building was perfect for this type of exercise. The dome-like edifice was divided into two floors: the ground floor, heavily peppered with greenery which perfectly mimicked a real forest, a few dirt paths scattered around leading into crossroads upon crossroads upon crossroads. In the center of it, amidst all the foliage, the center of the circular battlefield was occupied by a lake, surrounded by a stone clearing. All this was visible from the second floor, which consisted of only a balcony along the perimeter of the dome's roof, its floor being a thick glass that allows you to spy every nook and cranny of the lower ground.

Done admiring the space, Mr. Ojiro spoke up. "Let's recap!" Aihara and Kobayashi, since you were the first ones to be picked from each team, you'll be your team's namesake." Mashirao had suggested it as soon as the teams were completed, in order to keep naming teams a matter of minimal effort.

 _Team Aihara is made up of Aihara, Kurikiba, Takahashi, Fujiwara, Tanaka, Kurashiki, Yukimura and Kanbayashi._

 _This, of course, means Team Kobayashi is made up of Kobayashi, Oto, Kinjoshi, Hananari, Fukurou, Yamazaki, Momohara and Sochikawa._

"You'll all be locked in combat until you are tagged or tag every member of the opposite team. Any tagged students are rendered unable to use their Quirks to interfere in the exercise in any way. Understood?" The teams had already been separated, scattered across opposite halves of the field. "Any questions?" Tailman asked from his vantage point, looking at all the students awaiting his signal. When met by unanimous silence, the Martial Arts Hero refused to waste any more time.

Meanwhile, the reminders of her teacher scripting themselves into her brain, Akane did her usual pumping up speech. With a soft, quiet 'Plus Ultra', she clenched her fist, ready to fight against the odds - against the girl she'd managed to befriend the most until that moment, and seven other people who she'll be calling classmates for the next months, maybe years. Tailman's countdown was sudden, but somehow, the sixteen students were all ready.

 _3..._

 _2..._

 _1..._

 _Begin!_

Akane's feet propelled her forward as soon as the word 'begin' sounded off. She now understood her position - her team was in the lion's den, and metaphorically speaking, it was kill or be killed. And she was sure she wouldn't go down without a fight.

Prioritizing teamwork, Hananari made it her first move to find someone of her own team and use the so-called buddy system. Having an ally around would make her goal much easier to achieve. Gliding through branches and leaves, she took the dirt paths laid out in front of her to find a teammate, who, fortunately, was closeby.

Immediately, the boy adopted a fighting stance, fists clenched and legs firmly standing against the floor. "Who are you?"

"Akane Hananari." Akane responded calmly, recognizing this face as one of her teammates'.

In response, the boy returned to a softer position, his muscular arms and toned legs being almost exactly parallel to each other - he had a disciplined aura about him. "I apologize, I hadn't memorized your face. My name is Daichi Yamazaki. A pleasure, though it isn't the time or the place for formal introductions."

"Agreed." Akane nodded in response, eyes quickly darting to the surrounding areas. "I want to work alongside you."

The boy accepted the offer with a courteous, but quick bow, his long hair - about Akane's length, surprisingly - draping down over his shoulder as he bent over. "Sounds lovely. Due to the nature of my Quirk, I can't do much on my own, so a partner would be ideal."

Cursing her lucky stars taking a day off, Akane gritted her teeth. Without previous preparation for this, she hadn't the time or materials to absorb for backup, rendering her mostly useless unless her attacker got the jump on her, and she managed to attack. Likewise, it seemed that Daichi would not be much of a help either, if his Quirk is as difficult to use as he made it seem. "Are you able to fight, without using your Quirk?"

"Most definitely." he nodded, priding himself in his fighting abilities.

"Alright, we should be fine for now, then." Akane theorized. Any confrontations could be resolved using her Quirk and Daichi's close-combat skills - things were looking up. And with that, they were on the road again, carefully traversing the verdant paths, both on high alert. "By the way, what _is_ your Quirk?"

* * *

"Listen up, you idiot, it's high time you started listening to your leader!" the teal-haired girl ordered from a distance, relying on her status as the team's namesake. Merely a passerby, Kokoro sighed as she ran farther away from the noise in order to find a reliable, cooperative teammate.

Pink hair flowing behind her, she sprinted across the greenery, hoping to find someone quickly - though she was confident in her ability to avoid being tagged, she couldn't outrun her competitors forever. She needed an offensive counterpart to balance her out.

 _Crack._ "Stop."

Kokoro froze in place, almost losing her balance as every single muscle in her body refused to move. Stuck in an awkward position, she tried to at the very least stand on her own two feet, but for some reason she just... couldn't. Eyes darting from one bush to the next - nearly the only movements she could muster - she tried to find out what was happening, worried she'd be the first one tagged.

A male stood up from a nearby bush, presumably from a ducking position and coldly walked forward, towards the typhoon girl's motionless body. Trying to active her Quirk as a defense mechanism, she found it difficult - nigh impossible - to control the air around her without moving her body at all. Defeated, she accepted her loss already. Hope was lost.

Footsteps becoming sparser and sparser, Kokoro noticed the boy was approaching ever increasingly slowly, his pouty lips parted ever so discreetly as he sighed in annoyance, making Akane fall to the ground. "You're from my team, aren't you? Man, that's annoying." he complained, his voice higher than she had anticipated.

Wiping the dirt off her knees and palms, she attacked back, wrists on her hips. "What the big idea, huh? We're supposed to be working together!"

"I know, I know." the boy rolled his eyes. "I'm not stupid, you know? How was I supposed to know that was you?"

"How about _looking_ , big guy?" she retorted, before quickly taking back her statement. This wasn't the time to bicker with anyone. "Look, we're on the same team. Let's work together. It's better for both of us, that way."

"That so?" he asked, eyebrow raised and a smirk lifting his left cheek. "I'd say I'm doing well on my own. Granted I don't run into anyone else for our team." Glaring, Kokoro was visibly not taking any of this boy's crap. Waving his hand dismissively, he groaned. "Can't you take a joke? I'll go with you, jeez. If looks could kill..." he shook his head, his perfectly trimmed white bangs swaying to the left and right. "Name's Jun, by the way."

 **JUN KURASHIKI**  
 **QUIRK: SWEET TALK**  
 **At will, Jun can modify the frequency of his voice into one that directly influences the human brain, making him able to use mind control. He can only use it on a single person at any given time though, and cannot make them do anything that goes against their values.**

"Kokoro." the pink-haired girl responded. "Now, what should we do?" she added, unsure of what her next step could be. According to what she'd already seen of Jun's Quirk, they were coincidentally both able to immobilize people, which could prove very useful when making people defenseless against being tagged. "I say we go on the offensive. Waiting around our half of the turf won't help us."

"Smart move." Jun praised snarkily, cracking his knuckles. "Let's go for the throat, then."

Jun following closely behind, Kokoro traversed the confusing web of paths towards the center of the dome - the lake - hoping for some of her opponents to be out in the surrounding clearing. The trip there was tense and quiet, as both members of team Aihara were on high alert, careful to dodge any incoming ambushes while looking around for any members of the opposing team. A few minutes passed before they found their way through the intricate woods and reached the center of the dome.

Doing a quick scan of the area, the silver-haired boy found a suspiciously low number of people, namely, zero - though that wasn't for long. Almost as if on cue, a tall boy appeared amongst the trees on the opposite side of the lake, small pricks of brown hair poking out from his scalp. Kokoro focused on the boy's appearance, trying to get a clearer idea of who it was, and easily identified him. "That's Hikaru."

"Meaning?"

"Opposite team."

"Got you." Jun nodded, winking in Kokoro's general direction, though she paid no mind to it. Crossing lines of sight, it was clear Hikaru had already noticed the opponents' presence, and probably identified them as adversaries rather than teammates. The body of water, however, made it difficult for quick maneuvering.

Trying to come up with a strategy in her mind, one plan popped up rather effortlessly - one that mimicked her actions near the end of the entrance exam. With an unwavering sigh, she felt the adrenaline coursing through her as she readied herself to make the first move.

"Jun, stay back." Trusting his teammate, the boy stepped back, curious about what she had in store.

Feeling the pressure around her shifting, she dashed forward and released a gust of wind from behind her, making herself jet through the air, her path a straight line towards the stunned Hikaru. Gust of wind after gust of wind, she propelled herself across the water, and so she reached the shore - her target was right there. Her feet met the ground in an unbalanced run, but even fighting against gravity, she sprinted towards the tall boy until-

A throaty war cry came from Hikaru's mouth as his arms and legs suddenly inflated, an armor of muscle bulging from the inside of his skin.

 **HIKARU KOBAYASHI**  
 **QUIRK: PHOTOSYNTHESIS**  
 **Hikaru's quirk allows him to convert light into energy which he can use to heal wounds or augment muscle mass. He cannot store this energy though.**

"H-Huh!?" Kokoro interjected, her speed unfazed.

The buzzcut-haired boy raised his muscular arm in the air, fist clenched as he went in for the attack. Kokoro hesitated - if those newfound muscles are to be believed, she would be gravely injured by a direct hit. She couldn't afford being that hurt at the beginning of her training, and so she tried to dodge, yet avoided absolutely nothing. The target wasn't her, but the... floor?

His knuckles colliding with the stone, Hikaru put his all in this full-power punch, cracks forming in the rock around him. Debris shot out of the floor, travelling away from the epicenter of the collision, pebbles and boulders alike being thrown in Kokoro's direction.

"Kokoro!" Akane screamed as she arrived at the clearing, Daichi close behind her - but alas, she couldn't help. In fact, if anything, Akane cemented Kokoro's fate.

Startled by her name being called, the pink-haired girl lost her concentration as she looked in Akane's direction, even if only for a second. Her focus elsewhere, she was hit by a large piece of stone that slammed into her torso, knocking her onto the cracked floor. With a pained groan, Kokoro fell to the floor, grasping at her stomach before her eyes shot open.

"I can't-" she thought, but she was too slow.

Kokoro felt a foreign warmth on her forehead, and so her body gave out, arms and legs limping, crashing into the floor with a soft, lazy, defeated thud. Not only had her plan failed, it had gotten her tagged by her own target. Akane and Daichi crowded around her as the newly muscular Hikaru stoop up, his hand leaving Kokoro's forehead, leaving a cold emptiness.

 _Fujiwara, you're out! Team Kobayashi is now in the lead!_

Tailman's announcement only made her realization sink in. She lost, and to make matters worse, she'd been the first one out. Standing up, a dull sting around her stomach, she looked at Hikaru, then Daichi, then Akane. Sticking her thumb up with a big grin, she said her farewells. "You better not get tagged, Akane! Don't make me look bad by getting tagged by the loser team." And then, she jetted off towards the circular balcony of the upper floor, taking a spot close to Mr. Ojiro.

Akane looked as her amber-eyed friend floated away, feeling the winds from her initial impulse. Daichi and Hikaru by her side, she looked at the other side of the lake - no one, as far as she saw. Seven opponents left to tag, and their team hadn't suffered a loss yet.

"Sorry about that." Hikaru's palm ran through his spiky scalp. "She's your friend, isn't she?"

The red-haired girl tightened her ponytail and slapped her cheeks, waking herself up for the remainder of the challenge ahead. "She is! But don't worry, training is training. You did well."

A soft smile on his thin lips, Hikaru nodded. "Good."

With a discreet clear of the throat, the third member of the current trio chimed in. "I don't mean to intrude but, what is our next course of action?"

Ever the strategist, Akane wasted no time in thinking of a plan. "Our goal is to tag every single member of the opposite team. Since there isn't a time limit, we can't stall out the clock and get by with the 8-7 advantage we have right now. In order words..."

"Being strictly defensive is a dead end." Daichi concluded her thought.

"Agreed. That being said, it seems like no one else is taking the lake approach for now." Hikaru commented, his chin between his right thumb and index finger. "Which means we have to venture into the woods if we want results. There might be people camping out and waiting for others to pop up, though. We'll be at a disadvantage against those."

Akane's tongue clicked as she smiled. "I don't think getting ambushed will be an issue." she cheered, turning to look at Daichi. "Right?"

"Correct." the soft-spoken male nodded, a gentle smile on his lips.

 **DAICHI YAMAZAKI**  
 **QUIRK: ECHOLOCATION**  
 **Using inaudible, high-frequency sound waves, Daichi can map out the area around him, locating passages and people. He must be highly focused to do this, though.**

"Useful!" Hikaru commented, congratulating the long-haired boy's explanation of his quirk. "Our plan should be as follows then: Daichi, every so often we'll have you use your Quirk to locate enemies. While you do it, Akane and I will have your back. We try to go for isolated targets first, and work from there." he concluded, adding some afterthoughts soon after. "Having three people working together puts us at an advantage when it comes to offense, but we need to be alert. If we're caught off guard, there's a chance all three of us will be tagged in quick succession with no way to dodge."

"That would be troublesome." Daichi noted. "But I believe our plan, if well executed, should work wonderfully. We need only put it to action."

"Agreed!" Akane said, raring to go. "Daichi, please."

A quiet nod was all that was needed. Closing his sharp, jet-black eyes, the boy took a deep breath and concentrated, achieving results in mere seconds. Still focusing, he reported his findings. "I see some stationary targets, though most seem to be moving in groups of two or more. There is one isolated target to the west. Should we chase after them?"

Hikaru and Akane glanced at each other, confirming their consent. "Yeah, sounds good." Akane replied. "Thanks, Daichi. Let's move!"

The trio was quick on its feet, circling around the lake and moving into the woods once again, following the paths that seemed the most convenient to reach their destination. Daichi led the way, with a general feel for the area mapped out in his mind. It wasn't long before they arrived at a junction, where the path broke into two separate ones.

Feeling a bit of unease, the shorter of the two boys decided to call for his teammates' protection once more as he more accurately pinpointed the enemy's location. "The target should be around here." he said, confused as to why they had no sign of them. Opening his eyes, he looked around, Akane and Hikaru following suit.

The surrounding area was... familiar, to no one's surprise. Trees mostly looked the same, as did the paths and the bushes, but still, something felt distinctly off - and though unspoken of, it was felt by all three of them. Analyzing their surroundings proved difficult. Maybe it was just their imagination, a coincidence. Perhaps, Hikaru regrettably thought, Daichi's quirk was fallible, imperfect.

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Akane noticed something. A tree - or at least a tree trunk, with very few leaves to speak of. Amidst all the greenery, it's almost shocking they didn't notice a bare tree. Was it a clue, or maybe some kind of secret? Feeling it unimportant, Akane turned on her heels and returned to her trio.

"Nothing."

"Unfortunately so." Daichi sighed, exasperated and mildly confused. "My Quirk has never failed me before. This is positively discombobulating... and depressing, if I may add."

Daichi and Akane could do nothing but sigh in unison - they weren't even sure of what that big word meant. "Seems we've been going nowhere, then." Akane sighed, disconcerted. Scratching her cheek, she began to think of something new, when-

"Watch out, Akane!" the short-haired boy warned as he dove forward, taking the red-haired girl's body with him. Both laying in a pile of entangled limbs on the floor, bodies less than an inch apart, they had barely any time to recompose themselves before a new announcement sounded off.

 _Yamazaki, you're out! We're back on even fields, everyone!_

Hikaru was quick to stand up, leaving space free for Akane to roll to her right. And so, they both stood in front of their assailant, and the tagged Daichi. As the latter hurriedly made his escape towards the upper floor, his tagger blended right into the scenery.

"I-Isn't that a tree?" Akane commented, baffled, though upon further inspection, she should have noticed it immediately. The tree she had just seen - different, almost leafless - was the body of a girl. The naked body of a girl. Out of the corner of her eye, Akane could see the embarassed look on Hikaru's face, petrified with shame as he couldn't look away.

"Heh, take a long at these, boy!" the teal-haired girl mocked, jiggling her tiny breasts as her wooden exterior became more and more human. In a matter of seconds, she was in her birthday suit. "This is the Yui Aihara way, baby!"

 **YUI AIHARA**  
 **QUIRK: ARMOR**  
 **Yui can morph her skin into any solid material she knows. She's able to turn her entire body into that material, or just a part like the back or arm. She can only turn into one material at a time.**

"And you!" Yui's tone changed, deepening in an instant as she pointed to Akane. "Don't think I forgot you, you idiot! We still have our matter to settle!"

Sighing, Akane shook her head. "I don't recall. And could you please get dressed?" she added, with a certain scorn.

"No." she said, stomping forward slowly. "That's not how I'll repay you, not for a second. One day you'll be serious trouble, and I _will_ be there! I won't let you have the last laugh! You're not better than me, Akane Hananari!" she continued, bare feet approaching Akane and Hikaru. "But first..."

"This."

Time seemed to freeze for a second.

Were this a movie or manga, this would be akin to the part where the hero has their sword plunged straight through the villain, a dramatic wind blowing through them before the pale moonlight. They would them fall down to their knees - limp, lifeless, defeated. And coincidentally enough, Aihara did just that, dark blue eyed filled with anger as they looked skywards, the roof of trees above the teal-haired girl blocked by the exposed limb of a certain hero student who knows how to take advantage of a situation.

 _Aihara, you're out! Team Kobayashi is back in the lead!_

Uninterested, Akane grabbed Hikaru by the arm and proceeded along the dirt path, hearing the violent and incoherent screaming of the naked girl behind her, pummeling the ground below her with an unparalleled rage. One had to imagine how other nearby students were reacting to her outburst - but Akane had better things to worry about. Namely, six other targets.


	5. Chapter 5 - Bounce Back

**HER HERO ACADEMIA**

 **CHAPTER 5: Bounce Back**

* * *

 ** _April 12th, 9:51am_**

The increasingly muffled complaints of the self-proclaimed 'great Yui Aihara' grew lower and lower as Akane and Hikaru carefully walked away, still cautious of their surroundings and the opponents that may have been hiding among bushes and trees. Eyes briskly moving from the left, to the right, Akane might have looked sickeningly paranoid to outside observers, Hikaru a much more relaxed - yet equally minute - searcher.

"Did you hear that?" the boy asked, an arm stretched out in front of his female companion. Akane nodded in response, her ears indeed catching wind of an unusual sound. In the environment they found themselves in, one would expect to hear only other humans, perhaps a few woodland creatures if U.A. was really paying close attention to detail in their faithful representation of the woods, but the sound was distinctly different from anything they expected.

It sounded off again, this time a bit closer. "Is something... growling at us?"

Hikaru took his time before answering - Akane had a point, surely, but what kind of small forest critter could growl in such a loud, imposing way? To him, it seemed impossible and therefore, suspicious. Senses heightening, the duo covered each other's blind spots in a near flawless way, almost as if it hadn't been improvised, and scanned the area for any foreign targets.

Trees. Bushes. And, for good measure, some more trees.

"We should keep moving." Hikaru noted, almost as if he had read Akane's thoughts. "That second growl sounded closer to us than the first one. Whatever it is, it might be coming for us."

Akane nodded, agreeing. "I think so too. We'll be sitting ducks if we stay here and it gets the jump on us. Let's go." Careful, Akane turned around and kept walking, her buzzcut ally hot on her heels, his focus unwavering.

They managed to get but a couple of steps in before the menacing growl came about once more, this time even closer to the pair. Goosebumps on her skin at the sudden noise, the mirror student stopped dead in her tracks. The animal-like groans came closer and closer, increasing in frequency and volume as the predator closed in on its prey.

 _Crack._

The sound of a branch alerted Akane, her head instantly turning in the direction of the sound. With a quick sidestep, a dark-gray blur disappeared into the bushes. "Over there." the girl alerted Hikaru to their new target, hiding in the low greenery. Their location compromised, they had gotten significantly easier to track - no one could move quick enough amidst the bushes to pose any significant threat, or so Hikaru thought.

Leaves rustled in quick succession, almost like their assailant was escaping - but with such speed? It seemed improbable to the young pair, but the duo knew better than to completely write off the possibility. They did know, however, that this made their adversary tricky to tag, as they could seemingly outrun the both of them easily. Taking a quick moment to think, the young red-haired girl tried to come up with some sort of strategy, but stopped short of the result as the gray blur presented itself once more, blocking the way forward.

Akane and Hikaru looked at the girl in front of them. A seeming mixture of human and some sort of canine, the girl had a mane of long, wild, dark gray hair - with some stylish lilac highlights - which covered most of her back, reaching down almost onto her ankles. Her rugged, imposing jaw was peppered by some short dark gray hair on its sides as well, making her small, bright yellow eyes pop out even further, and her claw-like fingers all the more threatening.

Standing on all fours, the girl just stared at the duo, a low growl escaping her parted lips, sharp fangs exposed.

Unaware of their position, Hikaru immediately took a defensive approach to things, carefully avoiding any sudden movements that might anger the opponent, Akane cautiously mirroring the movement. The wolf-life girl just stood there, her hands and feet on the floor, and her eyes unmoving yet incredibly alert.

"This can be bad." Akane thought, reminding herself of how powerless she truly was without any prior preparation. If only she'd predicted this training activity, she'd have prepared some projectiles like she had for the entrance exam - gas from the stove, water from the shower, anything was better than nothing. And unless she could absorb something from her other classmates, she would be hindered by this for the remainder of the training session.

Besides, were there any members of the opposite team hiding around them, waiting? And who was this girl? One would think Akane would notice a wolf in her class.

Shaking her head, Akane returned to her focused, conscious state. There was little time to think when posed face-to-face with such a dangerous-looking opponent.

The red-haired student felt an arm pushing her back, losing her balance as she fell to the floor. Looking to her left, she saw the one who'd pushed her - Hikaru, his other arm swelling, increasing in size and muscle mass at an alarming rate. Out of the corner of her eye, Akane saw the wolf-girl flinch, afraid.

With a grotesque roar, the gray four-legged girl lunged forward, Hikaru kneeling down to punch the ground, trying to use a similar strategy to the one he'd used against Kokoro before her. Dirt and mud splattered around him, some of it hitting the underside of his wolf assailant, but it wasn't nearly enough to stop her. The gray mass moved quickly and ferally, and pounced on top of the solar-powered boy.

 _Kobayashi is out! Both teams are neck-and-neck again!_

 _Kobayashi is out?_

Her arm touched the furry jaw of the wolf, who seemed to be entranced by her newfound prey. Slobber dripping down ever so slowly onto Hikaru's lapel, he shivered, uncomfortable and ever so slightly afraid at the piercing yellow gaze set upon him. Without even thinking, the girl flinched at the touch, neck turning to the red-haired girl in an instant, the wolf's eyes docile yet... somehow frustrated. It was difficult to gauge the animal's emotions.

 _Kurikiba is out! Team Kobayashi has the lead once again!_

"Kurikiba?" Akane asked, a low and confused tone, her hand slowly backing away from the wolf-girl's jaw. A soft whimper left their lips as they leapt out of Hikaru's body, who was justifiably disconcerted, noticing his drool-covered lapel. Trying to wipe it away, it just disgusted him more, so he decided to leave it be, unsettling as it was. Focusing herself on the other girl, Akane stood, and was surprised to see the wolf mimicking her movements. Suddenly, the girl was familiar.

The dark-gray in her hair suddenly got lost as it was replaced by a slow, steady expansion of the lilac highlights in it, almost as if switching colors. Her long, wild mane was now lilac, with small tidbits of gray peppered for good measure, its length exactly the same. Her eyes turned softer somehow, and her claws rounded out to form human hands as the transformation came to a close, now the girl being fully human.

"That's my name." she said sternly.

 **YUMI KURIKIBA**  
 **QUIRK: WOLF  
When in her wolf form, Yumi has a heightened sense of smell, can run at great speeds when on all fours and grows claws and fangs to attack. Her power grows during full moons.** _ **  
**_

To say Akane was shocked would be a massive understatement, looking at the girl walking away, Hikaru still getting to his feet. Taking a quick minute to strategize before Hikaru left, Akane grabbed his shoulder.

"Do you know where anyone else is?" she asked, still a bit stunned, flustered.

Hikaru shook his head. "Even if I did, could I tell you? I'm out of the game, and you're on your own."

Realization sinking in, Akane bit the tip of her thumb. "Damnit, you're right." she scoffed, shaking her head, but not one to rest on her temporary safety, she wasted no time before she bid her farewells and got back to the exercise. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck. Win this for us." Kobayashi nodded before sprinting away.

Alone and at a numerical disadvantage, Akane graciously took every opportunity to check her surroundings, albeit silently to not avoid the attention of the opposite team.

A couple of minutes had passed as she curiously wandered through countless amounts of greenery - not a single soul in sight.

Had she gone mad? Certainly that couldn't have been the case.

Maybe she was walking in circles, or took a wrong turn.

Maybe there was a huge gathering of members elsewhere, and she'd just missed the memo?

Hypotheses popping into Akane's mind, it took every bit of strength she had left to focus on the task at hand, instead of letting her paranoias and theories get the best of her.

"Who's there?" Akane asked, stopping immediately. A rustling of leaves to her right sounded odd - unnatural, certainly not made by any animal or wind. Out of habit and precaution, the mirror girl changed into a focused stance, ready to go into full offensive mode or run away if need be.

Quiet whispers could be heard from the direction of the leaves, presumably two people holding a conversation - and from the sound of it, it seemed like one was berating the other over something. Was this really the appropriate time, Akane thought, to do so? Imposing, she called once again, a bit more agressively.

"Show yourselves!"

Jumping out of the bushes in a clearly disheveled manner, one of presumably two people shot up with a sudden shriek. Quick to notice her misconduct, she muffled herself by covering her mouth while looking directly into Akane's red eyes. Her dark green eyes shot open, realizing her mistake as she flung herself back to the floor with a loud thud.

Akane could make out the girl's whispers, but it was a difficult task - a few words she couldn't make out, but could infer as to what they were. "I-I think she saw us... What do we do...?" she murmured.

"Good job blowing our cover, idiot." a somewhat familiar male voice responded with a sigh, and another person stood up, pacing over to the dirt path nonchalantly. Locking his hazel eyes with Akane's crimson ones, arms crossed across his chest, the boy stood there - not as menacing as he was relaxed. "Long time no see."

Not one for conversation while at a disadvantage, Akane flinched, clenching her muscles further. "Psst!" a voice came from the right. The boy slid a hand across his dirty-blond spikes and looked towards his teammate. "I don't think she heard you!" she whisper-shouted at the male, as if unaware that Akane could also listen to her message.

"Oh, she did. She's just not very talkative, right, Akane?"

"Can't say the same about you, can we, Makoto?" Akane responded, though with a very brief jab, as to not lose her concentration.

Makoto shrugged. "I like to think I'm confident, that's all. We've gone over this before." he laughed genuinely, though is sounded awfully belittling of him to do so. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to make light of the training. Speaking of which, how's it going? Being on the leading team must be nice, huh? Can't relate."

"Psst! Don't say that to her! You're making us look bad!" the dark-purple haired girl whispered from her hiding place, seemingly unmoving. Akane could detect what could vaguely remind one of the rustling of leaves - but as the girl's voice wasn't moving, Akane deemed it unworthy of thought, for now.

A sigh escaped the boy's lips as he pat down the front of his legs, covered by shorts very similar to those he wore to the Entrance Exams. "I'd never do that." he commented, still without a care in the world. "So... you're outnumbered and alone, aren't you, Akane? Looks like a pretty dire situation to me."

 _It's... getting closer._

"Agreed."

"Want to turn yourself in? I'll just tap you on the shoulder and be on my merry way. That way you won't get all sweaty. Deal?"

"Hardly."

"Sheesh." Makoto sighed. "You really aren't much of a talker. Why is that? Did I do anything wrong?"

 _What are you trying to do?_

"Maybe I don't like cocky guys."

"Hey, I resent that." he pouted, jokingly. "There's nothing wrong with being confident in your skills. I was even merciful - the true mark of a hero, right?"

"Are you going to try to tag me or not?" Akane taunted, albeit with a very serious tone to her voice. "This is hero training, Makoto. Heroes don't chitchat with villains."

 _Closer still..._

Makoto laughed. "You never know!"

 _In three... two... one..._

"We're a new generation of heroes, we can afford to bend a rule here and there. It's called evolution."

 _Now._

"Hello there." Akane greeted a newcomer - though she couldn't really call it that - with a stomp of the foot. The right foot, unlike his left counterpart, was suspiciously missing the soil one would expect, the ground below it being much more wriggly, almost like... a human hand.

"Ow, ow, ow!" the girl audibly winced from her hiding spot among the bushes. "That hurt..." she pouted, sounding like she had her cheeks puffed up.

 _Kanbayashi is out! Team Kobayashi furthers their lead!_

Akane and Makoto looked at the girl as she stood up, her left arm clearly abnormal - it was like half of it had just fallen off, but upon closer inspection, Akane noticed a thick thread of some sort of spiral-like metal as it compressed, the other half of the arm returning to its rightful place. In minor pain, Kanbayashi, as her teacher had called her, clutched her right elbow with her left hand.

"Meanie." she commented, looking at Akane with sparkly eyes, rubbing her joints.

 **RYOKO KANBAYASHI**  
 **QUIRK: SPRING  
Ryoko's elbows and knees are made of a super elastic alloy with spring-like properties. This makes her able to compress and stretch her limbs at will.**

"All is fair in love and war." Makoto quickly intervened, not letting Akane speak - though, in reality, she didn't particularly think to do so. "And this is war, Akane, wouldn't you agree?"

The red-haired hero simply narrowed her eyes at her opponent, sure of her stance in case of a sudden attack. In the not-so-distant distance, she heard the rummaging of leaves, a sad snort erupting from her nose as she was suddenly out of earshot. "It certainly isn't love." Akane jabbed.

"Ack!" Makoto jokingly bent down, lying on one knee with his knuckles on the ground, another clenched fist near his chest. "Your words are sharper than you give them credit for. Almost makes up for your lack of combat abilities."

It was difficult for Akane to hide her true feelings regarding the statement - her brow furrowed by instinct, her eyes becoming darker as they looked down at the blond boy, her concentration wavering ever so slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, me?" Makoto rose from his previous position and delivered a smirk, the fingers from both his hands intertwined around the nape of his neck, almost acting as a cushion. "Nothing in particular. Just that I have the upper hand in this scenario."

"Funny."

"Funny?" Makoto repeated. "Why have you not tried anything yet, then?"

For another split second, Hananari found it difficult to focus as she was shot once again by another question. Questions that, the more she mulled over, the more dangerous they seemed - was it only coincidence, or did this guy know more than he had been letting on?

Struggling internally, she responded with utmost confidence, little emotion to back it up. "I could ask you the same thing." Makoto simply snorted, trying to hold back the laughter Akane's statement produced. Makoto was quick to answer.

"Are you trying to taunt me? Underhanded tactic."

"Were _you_ trying to?"

"I was." Makoto answered truthfully. Taken aback by his honesty, Akane's eyes widened, if only for a moment. "Surprised? I told you, I'm confident. No use lying to you."

A fleeting moment of awkward silence settled in, air growing thicker and thicker around Akane, tension and stress seeping through her pores and into her bloodstream. The calm and collected Akane was now fidgety and unsure - they had been at a standstill for a few minutes now, and no one took the first blow into their own hands. One false move, and the mirror hero could be the next tagged. Amidst the silence, a voice was suddenly heard.

 _Kinjoshi and Oto are out! The teams are on equal ground!_

The instant Tailman's announcement sounded off was one of sudden, quiet movement. His palm silently colliding with his thigh, Makoto lunged at Akane at a blinding speed, almost as if propelled by some invisible force. Shaken off her balance by the past couple minutes of talking, Akane was slow to dodge her opponent but managed to avoid his touch by a hair, by flinging herself into the bushes to her left.

Looking behind her, Makoto had stopped when colliding with a tree, but quickly turned around, facing Akane. Struggling to her to her feet, she helplessly knelt as she heard the footsteps of her opponent, breaking into a run as soon as she had stable footing, carrying herself rapidly through the dirt, the dirty blond boy quick on her heels. She took left and right turns, turning sharply to - maybe - get the jump on her chaser, but he was relentless.

Nothing to the right or left but trees, Akane was at an impass. She couldn't hope to outrun the young polarizing hero, yet he was far from catching up to her - it was like they were perfect equals in terms on speed, none of them gaining anything against one another. Forced to think of something in record time, she brainstormed for any possible solutions to the chase, but none seemed to work, and any risk she took would end in failure.

 _Momohara has been tagged! Team Aihara took the lead!_

"Damnit." she cursed under her breath as she sought the energy to run in the deepest reaches of her adrenaline-fueled soul. Hoping to reach the clearing, the red-eyed hero sprinted through and over the bushes in hopes of finding the welcoming shimmering of the pond. "At this point, I have to stall for time and hope I find someone from my team." Trying to remember the names of her teammates, Akane shouted for the remaining ones at random, right as she stepped foot into the clearing.

Eyes fighting to adapt against the harsher light, the shade beneath the trees no longer being an option, a short girl with long, brown twintails looked in Akane's direction from one side of the lake. Running in her direction as much as her twiggy legs could carry her, the girl's pink eyes gleaming under the tint of her glasses, she shouted back. "I'm here!"

A bit more at ease, Akane ran towards the girl - she did recognize her as a member of her team. "I'm being chased!"

"Got it!" the girl nodded and looked behind the red-haired sprinter, seeing Makoto slowing down as he found himself outnumbered. Brow furrowing on the shorter girl, the two old acquaintances caught their breath, eyeing each other with serious looks on their faces.

The dirty blond quickly recomposed himself, though he was visibly exhausted. "Aren't we feeling lucky today?" he said in between gasps for air, a smirk beginning to form. "I, for one, am not."

"Just shut up." Akane responded, as distraught as her opponent - if not more. Her teammate at her side, she felt like she had the advantage, but one could never be too careful. "Are you seriously... going to try and chat again?"

"I would never be that stupid." Makoto said in one quick breath. "Unlike you, Akane... I can actually do... this!"

Unexpected to both girls, the boy crouched and jumped forward, lunging towards them with his hand outstretched. Unable to think things through, exhausted as she was, Akane stood there, paralyzed as the implications of his statement blurred her concentration one final time - his prior words echoing in her mind as she flinched for a moment.

A crucial, fateful, decisive moment.

Feeling a palm to her stomach, Akane's legs gave out as two bodies hit the ground, the petite body of a young girl standing straight before she knelt down and touched Makoto. It all happened so suddenly in her mind, was she too slow? Indeed... she had been.

 _Hananari and Tanaka have both been tagged! Team Aihara is still the lead!_

* * *

The journey upstairs was silent. All the muscles in Akane's body were tense beyond belief, the gears in her mind whirred and her legs struggled to move as the adrenaline pushing her forward had dissipated elsewhere. And it was all due to one single person - a male, the first person she'd met inside the academy. One Makoto Tanaka - who funnily enough climbed the steps alongside her, an unbefitting smile plastered on his face.

Reaching the top floor, no one had any problem identifying the location of Mr. Ojiro, his tail being a dead giveaway of his location in such a barren setting. Going around the perimeter of the skylight, Akane met the others, while Makoto, to her relief, paced elsewhere to recover.

Being welcomed in the circle of losers, as Kokoro distastefully referred to it as, was bittersweet. Akane had reached far, that's for sure, but she felt powerless. The atmopshere around her was one of excitement, students commending their fellow classmates' abilities and Quirks - it was nearly as if after leaving the battlefield, the training session all became some part of hero-reality TV. A dismissive smile on her face, Akane thanked the others on their compliments, and returned a couple herself.

"C'mon, lighten up, Akane!" the pink-haired girl tapped the zombie redhead's forehead to wake her up for her self-loathing transe. "Don't be so hard on yourself! This is just a training session, and you did amazingly!"

"I have to agree with her, Akane." Daichi piped up excitedly, a sheepish smile on his face and a hand on his buzzcut. "You rocked when we were together, and from what I saw from up here, you kept rocking it when I left! You should be proud!"

The lilac-haired wolf girl from before nodded silently, but by sheer coincidence, Akane caught it and smiled. "All of us surely have things we must improve. That is why we enrolled in this academy, is it not? To achieve our true potential?" Daichi suggested, careful in his intervention.

"Yeah!" Kokoro replied with her usual excitement. "We got in because we're good, and we gotta train if we wanna be the best, right!? Sure you failed, but you're gonna bounce back, right? That's what your quirk is all about!"

 _When I get knocked down... I bounce right back. Just like my Quirk._

Akane laughed at herself, never having noticed the correlation. "Yeah, you're right." she said, sure of herself, an even bigger smile on her face. Though her deepest, innermost feelings were still ones of guilt and shame, she knew her journey to the top would be one of hardships and failures that she'd have to overcome in order to improve her hero abilities and become a full-fledged pro. "You're right!" she reassured herself more than she did the others, who smiled at seeing her classmate feeling a little better.


End file.
